Archive for December, 2011

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Noel goes number 2 to Liam? What?! Short answer: Yes. People probably could’ve written the Beady Eye reviews without listening to the album (“It rocks OK, but it lacks the big choruses that Noel can put into a song”), and they probably could’ve done the Different Gear, Still Speeding vs. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds comparisons without listening to either (“Liam needs Noel’s songs, Noel needs Liam’s voice”). Blah, blah, f*cking blah. What everyone missed after dismissing “The Roller” as an oh-so-predictable Lennon ripoff and “Bring the Light” as different (for better or worse) is that under the surface, Beady Eye were doing something that Oasis was adored for by its legions of fans in the 1990s, and that’s rewarding those fans’ loyalty. On the B-sides of Beady Eye’s 5 singles were songs that made it more than worth the investment of buying an A-side you already had. The most surprising song of the lot (and by that, I mean every damn thing they’ve released) is “World Outside My Room.” Liam hasn’t sung so plainly and sweetly since “Married With Children” and the lyrics go three steps beyond anything Noel Gallagher’s ever put his name to. As big a fan I am of Oasis, Noel’s penned good lines here and there, but never a song that kept me entranced by what he would say next. This song had me hanging on every line. “Did he just ask who’s been smoking cherry cola?! What the hell does that mean? It sounds cool though …” The real sticking point, though is that if you listen to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, you can see that Noel’s in a Ray Davies fit of late. He’s trying to capture “Dead End Street,” “Big Black Smoke” and the whole of The Village Green Preservation Society in his songs now instead of just swiping Beatles riffs. “World Outside My Room” does the Kinks better than anything on High Flying Birds and it sounds like Liam, Andy, Gem and Chris aren’t even trying to do so. This song could’ve been on Face to Face, Something Else, Village Green Preservation Society or even Muswell Hillbillies (how far away is it from “Holiday” after all?) This is a song from a band that’s a sh*tload more talented than your average critic wants to believe and a band that’s at its best when it’s just writing something for the fun of it. This is the best song of 2011 as far as I’m concerned. Better still, as Liam said about “The Masterplan” in 1995, “and it’s a f*cking B-side. How top is that?!”

Oasis fans got pretty excited when someone managed to capture a recording of this song in its formative stages during a soundcheck on the band’s final tour. I don’t know that the hunger was that rampant for new Oasis material at the time—Dig Out Your Soul was less than a year old, although it did lack the flag-waving staple Noel delivered on previous records (“Let There Be Love,” “Stop Crying Your Heart Out,” “Sunday Morning Call,” etc.)—the only real contender for the candlelight was Liam’s “I’m Outta Time.” But certainly after Oasis split and Noel went into a 2-year-long radio silence, fans’ need for this song quickly turned from hunger into bloodthirsty starvation. Why? Well, my theory is that even in that soundcheck recording, Noel’s sketches of lyrics displayed a vulnerability and hymn-like quality that he rarely shows, but when he does (“Talk Tonight,” “Slide Away”), the songs are usually considered among his best. Noel chose to go with a muscular backing for the song on his debut solo album, and while some of the words changed between the 2009 soundcheck and the 2011 release, the heart and intent remained intact. By the time of the final chorus that begins “Let me fly you to the moon …” every girl with a heart within earshot should be head over heels. If some teen drama injected this song into an episode, I’d bet chances are high that Noel would feel a surge of “Wonderwall”-like popularity again, but it’d probably be a little shorter lived than it was in the 1990s. Which is OK, as Noel seems to be in no hurry to recapture that. At best, Oasis fans got the song they’d waiting so long for and detractors got all the ammo they needed to pen their “All this guy does is rewrite ‘Wonderwall’” critiques. I would say those people are missing the point (of course I would). What we have here is as direct a love song from Noel Gallagher as we’re ever going to get, and it’s appropriate that (without reducing myself to hyperbole) it’s one for the ages.

Last year was the first time in this blog’s history that an Alex Turner composition failed to make my year-end best-of list. He must have noted this, releasing a solo EP, Arctic Monkeys album and appearing on Miles Kane’s solo debut all within the course of 2011’s 12 months. But while the Arctic Monkeys album failed to hold my attention as their previous efforts had, I was stunned by the lad’s original songs for Richard Ayoade’s first foray into feature films, in particular “Stuck on the Puzzle.” It’s got all the great hallmarks of early Arctic Monkeys B-sides—the melancholy but gorgeous melody, the swelling musical backdrop, and the surprisingly-tricky skill of using 5 big words to say something that can be said with 2 small ones. Few people can make a line such as “Something in your magnetism must’ve pissed them off, forcing them to get an early night” (aimed at stars, no less) sound regal and beautiful as opposed to pretentious and begging-for-an-ass-kicking. I don’t know how he does it or why he should be able to when others can’t, but Turner pulls it off. Again. Welcome back, Al.

Liam released his first solo album, I’ll Be Lighting, a few years ago and it was good in the same way that Julian Lennon’s Valotte was good—genuinely cool songs on it, but at the same time, I’m probably going to end up keeping his dad’s music in the car or on my playlist for the longer run. So when FOMO came out this summer, I noted it but never even bothered to check, because well … do you still listen to The Secret Value of Daydreaming? But then an old friend of mine (and fellow Neil-phile) pretty much demanded I listen to FOMO and “Cold Feet” in particular and … well, I owe Liam an apology for not caring earlier. “Cold Feet” is not only one of the finest pop songs of the year, but it stands right along side his father’s (andhis uncle’s) best stuff. Sun-kissed but tinged with heartbreak, always the perfect balance. You’ll be singing along by the second chorus. Now I just find it categorically unfair that one family should have the write-catchy-songs gene pumping so prominently throughout its bloodstream. On a semi-related note, my girlfriend would like me to point out to readers that anyone with an affinity to stuffed toy seals (as in children’s toys), don’t watch the video.

I freely admit I didn’t find much to like in the Super Furry Animals’ 2009 LP, Dark Days/Light Years. I must be the only one, because I know it was one of the best reviewed albums of that year. I dunno, to me it just seemed like a lot of big noise you had to dig through to find those lovely hooks that are always liberally scattered around their albums. At this point, SFA have gained a well-deserved reputation as masters of their form, so they can probably release bad albums and still have residual acclaim blanketing them for years. Still, it kind of disheartened me that for the first time I’d walked away from an album by an always-consistent band that I felt had, on the whole, let me down (see also: Spoon’s Transference). Fortunately, Gruff pulled me right back on board this year with his solo album Hotel Shampoo, which I actually rate alongside my favorite SFA album, Rings Around the World. It’s not anywhere near a Super Furries work in terms of scope, but the little vignettes are well-played and exquisitely written. “Sensations in the Dark” is the song that pulled me in and I’m a sucker for the mariachi-horn breakdown each and every time, but tomorrow I’ll argue for “If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)” as my favorite. The day after that it will be “Shark Ridden Waters.” The day after that it will be “At the Heart of Love.” And then “Sensations in the Dark” will come on again and I’ll have a boogie and exclaim to anyone within earshot: “HOW GREAT IS THIS?!”

I was ruminating on it recently and if I may be completely honest, I believe that spending 5 years in Madison, Wisconsin and not calling myself a Wilco fan made me as much (if not more) of an outcast than being a Marquette graduate, a Cubs fan and a Bears fan in that city. Wilco owns Madison, and you’d think that coming from Chicago myself, I’d have been a little more reverent throughout the years, but even when Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was dominating the college charts when I was in Milwaukee, something about the obsessive fandom made me not trust them. I never doubted they had good songs (I’ve been a fan of “Can’t Stand It” and, to a lesser extent, Summerteeth since 1999), my sister likes them, my oldest friend adores them, my former boss revered them and it all seemed to be a bit much for me. Maybe I was just a prick who wanted to reserve that kind of devotion for the Kinks, but alas, Tweedy & Co. caught me this year. I heard a quick segment about the album on NPR (man, it sounds a tad pretentions when you type it, too) back in September, and what grabbed me was this song’s organ part. I bought the album and it hasn’t left my car since. It’s a warm, lovely hug of a record and even with a threat to set children on fire in this song, you can’t help but bust out your best go-go dance moves when that organ kicks in. There are quite a few special songs on the album, but they don’t build enough singles like this anymore. When these kinds of songs come around, they need to be celebrated. Plus now all my friends get to say, “About f*ckin’ time” to me.

There’s not much left for me to say about “Rolling in the Deep.” You’ve heard it. It could very well be the most ubiquitous song of 2011, but it’s nice for once that that title can be bestowed upon a well-written and expertly-performed song instead of some pop slop squeezed out of bar rags after closing time that became viral just because of some silly accompanying dance. Right? Anyway, the first time I heard it I listened intently and began moving a little. I still do if it comes on these days. Cheers to Adele for bringing some great singing and R&B power to the top of the charts. Now figure out what the hell’s up with your voice and how to manage it and stop cancelling shows. You can lose fans quicker than one song will gain them these days …

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